Strangers in the Alley
by Caitlin-and-Emily
Summary: As Harry enters his 7th year, he meets someone who will have a profound imact on his life. With Voldemort gaining more power, the fate of many people lie with Harry and he must find a way to overcome the task he is faced with. AU.
1. The Begining

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything. We own nothing. So yeah.

This is our attempt at a non-parody story. Letshope it goes well. Reviews would be great.And it would probably make you the most-amazing-person-of-ever. And you know you all want to be the most-amazing-person-of-ever, so you sould review.

Enjoy.

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It was a humid, stormy night on Privet Drive and a boy lay silently in his bed, listening to the drip-drop of the leak in his ceiling. His green eyes flickered open as a surge of pain went through his head. He raised his hand to the lightning bolt shaped scar, wondering if he should worry that the pain was happening almost every day now.

A moment later he heard a familiar tap on the window and instinctively went over to let Hedwig into his dreary bedroom. His snowy white owl flew into the room, her wet feathers dripping onto his floor. Two slightly damp letters were clasped in her talons. It perched itself on Harry's dresser and stood nobly, its golden feathers gleaming in the moonlight. Harry guessed it was one of the Hogwarts owls. As Harry took the letter off of its leg, the owl ruffled its feathers importantly and flew back out the window.

He sat down on the corner of his bed and ripped open the first letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_How have you been? Are the muggles treating you decently? If not, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if you threatened them with a good hex or two. The order is regrouping here. We are gaining strength, and soon we should be powerful enough to take on Voldemort once again. After the devastating losses we suffered last year, we have made extensive preparations for our next attack. I must ask you, how ever vain it is, to refrain from going after Voldemort. I assure you that the order has these matters under control. Please try to enjoy your final year at Hogwarts, Harry, and stay out of trouble. For Sirius' sake. _

_Sincerely,_

_Remus Lupin _

Harry sighed and pushed the letter away, ignoring Remus' warnings to abstainfrom helping the order. Pushing Lupin's voice from his mind, Harry unfolded the next letter and instantly recognized Ron's untidy scrawl.

_Hi'ya Mate!_

_How've you been? I'm pretty good. Mum and Hermione both say hi. Hermione just got here yesterday. She's about to have an episode because she hasn't gotten her supplies list for school yet. She is such a bloody know-it-all. Ow! Hermione has just told me to inform you that she is not a bloody know-it-all and that I am an insensitive git. Bloody woman. See you in a couple of days._

_-Ron_

Harry smiled at his friends' endless bickering. He couldn't wait to join all of them at the Weasleys' home in just two days' time. The last letter was from Hogwarts and contained his typical list of books and supplies. Harry placed the letters on his bedside table and placed his glasses on top of them. He leaned back on the lumpy bed and rested his head on his pillow. Within seconds, his eyes drooped closed and he was sleeping peacefully.

The next two days were hot and miserable. Harry's aunt and uncle managed to find an endless number of chores for him to do, making sure he never had a spare moment to practice his magic or do his homework. By the time he finally found himself in his bed two days later, Harry was sore and aching from head to toe.

Just as he was dozing off, Harry heard a loud 'pop' from just below his window. Having some idea of what might be waiting for him, Harry rushed to find the source of the noise. Sure enough, standing on the lawn of number 4 Privet Drive, were none other than Fred and George Weasley.

"Oi!" Fred called as Harry flung open the window. "How you been, Harry?"

"Alright," Harry said. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, we had nothing better to do," George began.

"So we thought we'd come to bring you back to the Burrow," Fred finished.

"And to make sure your uncle doesn't give you any problems," added George with a mischievous grin.

"Alright," Harry chuckled. "Let me run down and open the door for you."

"Alright, then," Fred hollered back. "But do hurry up, it is raining you know."

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Fred and George helped Harry gather his things, all being careful not to wake the sleeping Dursleys. Harry left a note informing them that he had finally left their home for the last time. He smiled as he walked out the door and onto the porch, knowing he would never have to return.

"You alright, Harry?" George asked upon noticing the dreamlike grin plastered on Harry's face.

"Yeah," Harry continued to smile. "I just realized that I never have to come back here again." The twins laughed at his jubilant disposition. "How'd you guys get here?" Harry asked, realizing there was no way of getting them to the Burrow.

"Portkey," they responded in unison.

"Aren't you supposed to have authorization for one of those," Harry asked.

"I don't think so," Fred said, a look of feigned concern crossing his face. "You ever heard of a rule like that, George?"

"Nope," responded George. Harry laughed as George reached into his pocket and pulled out an old, chipped teacup. All three of them placed a finger on the teacup and soon they were rushing through the air toward the ever familiar Burrow.

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As soon as Harry arrived at the Burrow he was engulfed in a hug by Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh Harry, dear, how have you been? I'm so glad that you're here, we all are. I've missed you so much! I can't believe how much you have grown this summer!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as she continued to squeeze the life out of Harry.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," he managed to get out. "But I can't really breathe right now."

"Oh goodness!" Mrs. Weasley gasped, finally letting go and taking a step back. "I'm so sorry Harry, dear. Here, have something to eat. Can I get you a cup of tea?"

"That would be nice, thank you," Harry said, sitting down at the large kitchen table.

Behind him, he heard footsteps rushing down the stairs. Hermione and Ron burst into the cramped room and Harry stood to greet them. Hermione embraced him in a hug and Ron gave him a pat on the back.

"Oh, it's so nice to finally see you Harry!" Hermione said, letting go of him.

"Yeah, nice to see you mate," Ron added.

"Same to you," Harry said. Mrs. Weasley came back to the table with a cup of steaming tea for Harry.

"Now, you two let him be," Mrs. Weasley scolded Ron and Hermione. "Poor Harry's had a long night, and he's very tired. Now you two just run along to bed and you can talk to Harry in the morning." Mrs. Weasley shooed his two friends back up the stairs, leaving Harry to some peace and quiet in the kitchen.


	2. A Stranger in the Alley

Disclaimer: We still own nothing

A/N: I decided that I fail so I changed this chapter a bit. I hope its a little better. Though I didn't change much. Oh well.

Enjoy.

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Days passed quickly in the Weasley home. Harry caught up with his two best friends, practicing Quidditch with Ron and finishing his yet undone homework with Hermione. About a week after his arrival, an owl brought Harry, Hermione and the two youngest Weasley's their letters from Hogwarts.

"Oh my!" Mrs. Weasley cried, looking over the list. Her hand flew to her mouth as the list seemed to grow longer and longer. "Well, I suppose we'll need to go to Diagon Alley later today." The red headed, aging witch smiled at the four children sitting at the table. Mr. Weasley had left for work at the Ministry an hour before and the normally bustling house seemed unusually quiet.

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Having made plans to meet up with Mrs. Weasley later, the trio strolled down Diagon Alley. Crowds of students shopping for school supplies flooded the street. The air was warm and dry. A welcomed breeze swept through the alley and blew through Harry's hair. A bell chimed as the three friends entered Flourish ands Blotts. The store was relatively empty as the three strolled through the aisles in search of their schoolbooks.

Half an hour later, the group moved toward the cash register, each carrying a heavy stack of books. But as they rested their books on the counter and waited for the clerk to return, an all too familiar blonde-haired wizard appeared before them.

"Well, what do we have here?" Sneered Draco Malfoy. "If it isn't Scar-head, Weasel-bee and the Mudblood." The burly and rather unintelligent Crabbe and Goyle stepped out from a nearby aisle and stood flanking Malfoy's side. "Are you sure you can afford all that Weasley? Have your parent been saving all year to but you those?" Malfoy and his minions laughed heartily as Ron's face turned bright red.

"Shove off Malfoy," Hermione growled.

"Oh," Malfoy grew even more amused. "Is your girlfriend sticking up for you now, Weasley?" Their laughter grew even louder as Ron and Hermione both flushed a violent shade of scarlet.

"She's not my girlfriend," Ron shouted, causing Malfoy and friends to double over with laughter.

"Bugger off Malfoy!" Harry yelled. Malfoy stepped forward and shoved Harry back into Ron with. Just as Harry was reaching for his wand, the clerk emerged from the back room.

"How may I help you gentlemen today?" The scrawny, bug-eyed man asked. Harry and Malfoy glared at one another for a moment before Malfoy backed off.

"See you around, Potter," Malfoy sneered. The blonde wizard turned on his heel and stormed out of the store, promptly followed by Crabbe and Goyle.

The three finished paying for their books and left the store. They stopped by the Leaky Cauldron and left their books with Tom, the owner of the pub and a good friend of the group. They left once again to continue shopping. As Harry turned the corner into the alley, he ran straight into a girl carrying an armful of books. The books went tumbling out of her arms and littered the ground.

"I'm so sorry," Harry apologized, leaning down to help the girl pick up her books.

"Oh it's no problem," the girl said bending down as well.

"Here you go," he said and handed her two leather-bound books. He looked up to see a two misty green eyes looking back at him from behind a curtain of auburn bangs. Her skin was a creamy white. The two stood and Harry brushed his hands off on his pants. The girl was fairly tall, reaching to just below Harry's eyes. Her slender waist flowed seamlessly into her flawless curves.

"I'm Riley," the girl said. Harry noticed her obvious American accent.

"Harry," he said. They managed an awkward handshake. "Are you from America?"

"Yeah," Riley smiled. "How'd you guess?"

"The accent might have given it away just a bit," Harry said with a playful grin. "That and perhaps the utterly vulgar manners."

"You're so funny," she said as she rolled her eyes and laughed.

"We try," Harry laughed.

Ron coughed from behind the two, and Harry remembered that he'd arrived with two others. "Oh sorry, this is Ron and Hermione." Harry motioned to them. "You guys, this is Riley."

"Pleasure to meet you," Hermione said, politely extending her hand. Riley shifted her books and daintily returned the gesture.

"Nice to meet you," Ron said loudly and roughly shook Riley's arm.

"Nice to meet you both," Riley laughed as Ron let go of her hand.

Somewhere in the distance, a clock chimed two o'clock. "Oh crap!" Riley exclaimed. "Sorry to rush, but I've really got to go. It was really nice meeting you all. I guess I'll see you later!"

"Bye!" Harry, Ron and Hermione chimed. Riley waved goodbye and, flicking her long hair behind her, hurried down the alley.

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A/N: Ok so yeah, thats it. Its short but oh well. And I know the American thing is overused but really, it's not gonna come up very often in the story. Maybe onlya few times. But if it bugs you at all, just pretend she's from somewhere else. The part important to the plot has to do with the fact that shes someone new, not really where shes from.It really could have been anywhere. And now I've bored you with a rant about something totally and completely pointless (but I do that so well) so I apologize.

:) Ciao!


	3. One Hell of a Year

Disclaimer: We own nothing. Oprah and JK Rowling own everything.

Enjoy.

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Chaos flooded the Burrow the morning Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny were set to leave for Hogwarts. Ron was running through the house in search of his owl, Pig. Ginny was frantically trying to shove all of her belongings into her old and tattered trunk while Hermione checked and rechecked all her homework. Mrs. Weasley was sobbing about her babies being all grown up and trying to help everybody to get their things together without suffering an emotional meltdown.

Meanwhile, Harry sat quietly on the porch. His trunk was next to him and Hedwig's cage rested on top. Loud crashes and thuds could be heard echoing through the home. This some how comforted Harry and he soon found himself dozing off to the sound of shrieks and sobs.

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"Harry! It's your turn, darling," Mrs. Weasley shouted above the roar of Kings' Cross Station. "Hurry now, we haven't got much time," she added, checking the clock for the hundredth time.

Harry nodded to her and quickly made sure his things were securely on his cart. Upon seeing a break in the crowd, Harry made a dash toward the entrance to platform 9 ¾. He burst onto the other side and moved out of the way for Ginny and Mrs. Weasley, who were still waiting on the other side. Harry spotted Ron and Hermione near the train, already unloading their belongings off their carts, and rushed over to join them.

"Here, let me help you with that," Harry said as he and Ron lifted Hermione's trunk onto the train.

"Thanks," Hermione smiled gratefully, dragging her trunk into the train. "I'll go find us a compartment. You two stay and help Ginny with her things as well, alright?"

"Alright," both boys agreed. Hermione disappeared around the corner just as Ginny and Mrs. Weasley appeared. Harry and Ron got everybody's things onto the train and bid a teary-eyed Mrs. Weasley goodbye.

"Owl me as soon as you get to the school, alright?" She said while dabbing tears from her eyes with a white handkerchief. Ron, Ginny and Harry all promised to do so. "And no getting into trouble this year! Especially you two!" Mrs. Weasley pointed an accusing finger at Harry and Ron.

"Can't promise you that mum," Ron said with a grin. Mrs. Weasley's reply was drowned out by the screeching of the train's whistle. The sleek, red Hogwarts Express began to roll out of station as Mrs. Weasley frantically waved goodbye from the crowd. The three on the train waved in return before turning to find Hermione in the train.

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Though the train had left the station only about ten or fifteen minutes ago, Harry and Ron sat contently in the compartment, steadily consuming a large pile of sweets including chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's every flavor beans. They talked about Quidditch and came up with elaborate plots to publicly humiliate Malfoy in front of the entire school. They laughed heartily as the ideas grew more and more outrageous. Hermione ignored them as she engrossed herself in a book while Ginny sketched idly on a loose piece of parchment.

"Well, crap!" Someone exclaimed from the hallway, following a loud thud. The four in the compartment paused for a moment to look towards the door in curiosity. Harry pushed the door open a bit and peered out. He instantly recognized the girl he'd met in the alley a couple of days earlier. She appeared to be having a few difficulties with her trunk.

"Riley?" Harry said.

"What?" Riley jumped back, startled a bit. She relaxed when she saw Harry. "Hi Harry!"

"Having problems?" He asked with an amused smile.

"No, I'm perfectly fine, thank you," Riley said stubbornly. Harry smirked at her. "Okay, yeah. This stupid trunk weighs like a billion pounds and all the compartments are full and I have no idea where I'm going and I would really just like to sit down now," she stopped her rant and took a deep breath as Harry suppressed the urge to laugh.

"A billion, huh?" Harry said playfully.

"Shut up," Riley snapped, trying to hide her amusement but failing to cover a small smile on her face.

"Well there's room in our compartment if you'd like to join us," Harry offered, reaching to help her move her trunk out of the aisle.

"If you think you could endure such a long ride with my vulgar American manners, then I would love to." Riley and Harry shoved the trunk into their compartment and slid it beneath the seats with the rest.

"You remember Ron and Hermione?" Harry said.

"Of course," she said happily. "How could I ever forget nearly having my arm ripped off?" Riley smiled jokingly at Ron.

"Sorry," Ron mumbled, the tips of his ears turning red. The others laughed at Ron's obvious discomfort.

"And this," Harry motioned toward Ginny, "is Ron's little sister, Ginny."

"You'll have to excuse my brother's manners, it's not his fault, he was just born a savage brute," Ginny said as she shook Riley's hand.

"Hey!" Ron shouted. "I am not a savage brute!"

"Of course you're not," Ginny said in a mocking baby voice and reached over to pinch Ron's cheek.

"Go away," Ron said, pushing her hand away and turning to stare out the window and mumble about how much he loathed his younger sister.

"Oh honestly, Ron," Hermione sighed after a minute or so of his sulking. "If you are going to sit there being moody, do you think you could manage to be quiet so the rest of us could study?"

"The rest of us?" Ron looked at her like she was mad. "Who else in this room is studying? The invisible man by the door? Just because you can't go two minutes without learning something doesn't mean we all have to."

"Stop exaggerating everything," Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"I'm not exaggerating!" Ron shot back defensively. "You always have to 'read' and 'take notes' and 'pay attention.'" Ron said dramatically. "And every time me and Harry-"

"Harry and I," Hermione corrected.

"See!" Ron shouted and pointed a finger at her. Ginny, Riley and Harry could no longer contain themselves and all three burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Hermione asked with a puzzled look on her face. The laughter just grew louder.

"Oh bloody hell, stop laughing and tell me what's so funny!" Ron hollered, clearly annoyed.

"You two fight like an old married couple," Riley managed to choke out.

"We do not!" Ron and Hermione said together, causing the others to laugh even harder.

"Ow!" Riley cried, clutching her sides. She wiped a tear from her eye and the three struggled to regain their composure.

"Well I'm glad you all had a nice laugh," Ron said bitterly.

"Sorry," Harry said, still trying not to laugh.

"So," the redhead said, looking at Riley. "Why exactly are you here?" Hermione sent Ron a piercing glare and he quickly added, "not to be rude or anything."

Riley laughed, "Well I guess its because I needed somewhere to go to school."

"What year are you then?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Seventh"

"It's your last year, why bother moving now?" Ron asked through a chocolate frog.

"Fair question," Riley agreed. "Well, basically my parents just got fed up with my old school and we, um, left."

"What was wrong with your old school?" Harry asked.

"It was stupid," Riley shrugged.

"Well I suppose that is a good reason to leave," Harry said.

"Yeah, I though so too," Riley agreed.

The rest of the train ride passed quickly. The four of them talked endlessly as the Hogwarts Express zoomed through the countryside. As the train drew nearer to the castle, everybody changed into their robes. Riley's were plain black, as she had yet to be sorted. She was to learn what her house would be before joining the others in the great hall.

The train came to a halt and students hurried to get their luggage and themselves off the train. Luckily, the weather was nice and the skies were clear. Riley looked up at the castle in awe.

"You ready?" Harry asked her.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Riley answered.

They all grabbed their trunks and together the group of five headed toward the castle to embark upon yet another and, for all but Ginny, the last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Come on everyone, we need to find a carriage." Hermione said.

"Yeah, ok." Harry told her as he and everyone else followed her down the dirt road out of the Hogsmeade station.

There were about a hundred or so carriages that would take the students up to the castle. Harry glanced between the carriage shafts to see the fleshless, black creatures, which were pulling the carriages. Thestrals, he could remember the first time he had seen them, thinking he had been seeing things. He turned and saw Riley coming toward the carriage. He watched her hand Crookshanks to Hermione and he wondered if she could see the Thestrals too.

"Coming Harry?" She called as she walked over to him.

"Yeah."

"What's up with those… things!" Riley said with a disgusted look on her face, just noticing the Thestrals

"You-you can see them?" Hermione stuttered.

"Well yeah, can't you? Why wouldn't I be able to see them?" Riley asked confused.

"Well… you only see them if you've seen, you know," he had a lump in his throat, "someone die." Harry barely managed to get out.

Riley was silent as she stared at the creatures. Harry opened his mouth to say something but decided against it.

"Do you see them Harry?" Riley asked quickly, trying to avoid being questioned.

"Um, yeah," Harry said quietly, nervously fidgeting with his hands.

"Oh, okay then," Riley said perkily, dropping the obviously uncomfortable subject. "Look! This one's free!" Riley gestured for everyone to follow her into a nearby carriage. Hermione grabbed Crookshanks and pulled Ginny toward the carriage.

"Oh! Ron, Harry get our trunks please," Hermione called over her shoulder as the girls climbed in behind Riley.

"Okay, since I'm your maid and everything!" Ron called back with sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Thank you!" Hermione sent him a sickly sweet smile from the window.

"Bloody women," Ron mumbled as he and Harry bent down to move the first trunk. "This is gonna be one hell of a year."

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A/N: Hope you liked it. Review s'il vous plait. :D 


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